[[!meta date="2016-05-17"]]
[[!meta author="Tyler Cipriani"]]
[[!meta copyright="""
Copyright &copy; 2018 Tyler Cipriani
"""]]
[[!meta title="NHC 2014 Gold Medal Tupelo Mead"]]

This mead won 1st place in Traditional Mead (Category \#24) at the [2014
National Homebrewers
Competition](http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/tupelo-mead/)
hosted by the American Homebrewer's Association (AHA).

I don't like that the AHA has locked down award-winning recipes—the
world is better when information is free for everyone, so I've posted my
recipe here. I'm also going to start explicitly licensing my recipes
Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike.

This was the 3rd mead I ever made, the recipe is a little ridiculous,
but the results were outstanding.

Stats
-----

-   Original Gravity: 1.150
-   Final Gravity: 1.030
-   ABV: 15.75%
-   Batch Size: 5 Gallons (18.93 L)

Fermentables
------------

  Ingredient     Amount               %      When
  -------------- -------------------- ------ ----------------------------
  Tupelo honey   26.0 lb (11.79 kg)   100%   mixed in a bucket to start

Yeast
-----

  Strain                      Amount    Starter
  --------------------------- --------- ---------
  Lalvin 71B-1122 dry yeast   2 packs   N/A

Other
-----

  Ingredient                   Amount   When
  ---------------------------- -------- ----------------------
  Go-Ferm                      28g      Rehydrating yeast
  Diammonium phosphate (DAP)   8g       Primary Fermentation
  Fermaid-K                    18g      Primary Fermentation

Notes
-----

100% RO water

[Kristen England Even-Speed Mead
method](http://www.ahaconference.org/wp-content/uploads/presentations/2008/KrisEngland_NHC.pdf)

-   Day 0: 4.5 g Fermaid K, 2g DAP, Rehydrate 2 packs 71B with 28 g
    Go-Ferm
-   Days 1, 3, 5, 7, 8: stir
-   Day 2, 4, 6: 4.5g Fermaid K, 2g DAP, Stir

Primary Fermentation: 14 days at 68° F (20° C)

Post-fermentation: potassium sorbate and back-sweeten with 1+ lbs of
Tupelo honey to taste.
